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Article WHAT IS FREEMASONRY? Page 1 of 5 →
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What Is Freemasonry?
WHAT IS FREEMASONRY ?
The following excellent Masonic sermon , from the text— And Jacob awaked out of his sleep , and he said—Surely the Lord is in this place , and I knew it not . "—( Gen . xxviii ., 16 )— -was preached at the churchrT ) f St . Mary ' s Tower , Ipswich , on the occasion of the meeting of the Provincial Grand Lodge , of Suffolk , on Friday , the 24 th September , by the Yery Worshipful Bro . the Rev . R . N . Sander son , Provincial Grand Chaplain . The reverend Brother said : —
Rebekah , the " \ ¥ ife of Isaac , knowing that a peculiar blessing was in the gift of her husband , was desirous of obtaining it for her favourite son Jacob , though by birthright it belonged to her firstborn , Esau . The means by which Jacob fraudulently obtained his father ' s blessing are too well known for it to be necessary for me at present to detail them . Sufficient to say that the desired blessing was no sooner obtained than Jacob was compelled to flee from the wrath of his brother , who , in rage and disappointment ,
threatened to slay him . As he was journeying to Padan-Ara ^ a distant land in Mesopotamia , and the home of his mother ' s kindred , whither by his parent ' s strict command he was enjoined to go , being weary , and benighted on a desert plain , he laid him down to rest , taldng the earth for a bed , a stone for a pillow , and the canopy of heaven for a covering . There , in a vision , he beheld a ladder , the top of which reached the heavens , and the angels of the Lord ascending and descending upon it . And there the
Almighty was pleased to enter into a solemn covenant with Jacob , and to assure him of His protection and a safe return to his native land . The patriarch after haying seen this vision , starting from his sleep , utters the exclamation which I have chosen for my text , " Surely the Lord is in this place , and I knew it not . " Now , my brethren , may we not in this vision of the patriarch Jacob , and in the history of his journey , behold a symbol and type of the life of man ? An exile from his home , and exiled by his own
faults , a wanderer , pursued by the hatred of powerful and deadly spiritual foes , seeking a place of refuge in a peaceful land far away , in obedience to his heavenly Father ' s commands , and yet on his journey thither becoming weary , and allowing himself to be overtaken by night whilst on the wilderness of earth and earthly things , and whilst there sleeping , ignorant that God is in that place and that even where he yields to sleep , there is the very gate of heaven , if he will but see it . Yes , my Brethren , it is even thus ; and men ,
some from thoughtlessness , some from thought misplaced , and too much carefulness about the things of this life ; some , alas ! from weariness in well doing ; yea , and some from wilful and presumptuous alienation of the heart from God , sleep the $ leep of ignorance or of indolence , in the wilderness of their earthly pilgrimage , while before them and around them are the various means which God has appointed for communicating His presence to man ,
and which they do not , because they will not know . The church of Christ , prayer public and private , the study of God's Holy Word , the teaching of His ministers , the ordinances and means of grace , works of piety and selfdenial , all these things are instruments for bringing God near toms , and yet of all these , are not some absolutely rejected , and the rest tacitly disregarded by numbers of our fellow men ? When therefore we see that
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
What Is Freemasonry?
WHAT IS FREEMASONRY ?
The following excellent Masonic sermon , from the text— And Jacob awaked out of his sleep , and he said—Surely the Lord is in this place , and I knew it not . "—( Gen . xxviii ., 16 )— -was preached at the churchrT ) f St . Mary ' s Tower , Ipswich , on the occasion of the meeting of the Provincial Grand Lodge , of Suffolk , on Friday , the 24 th September , by the Yery Worshipful Bro . the Rev . R . N . Sander son , Provincial Grand Chaplain . The reverend Brother said : —
Rebekah , the " \ ¥ ife of Isaac , knowing that a peculiar blessing was in the gift of her husband , was desirous of obtaining it for her favourite son Jacob , though by birthright it belonged to her firstborn , Esau . The means by which Jacob fraudulently obtained his father ' s blessing are too well known for it to be necessary for me at present to detail them . Sufficient to say that the desired blessing was no sooner obtained than Jacob was compelled to flee from the wrath of his brother , who , in rage and disappointment ,
threatened to slay him . As he was journeying to Padan-Ara ^ a distant land in Mesopotamia , and the home of his mother ' s kindred , whither by his parent ' s strict command he was enjoined to go , being weary , and benighted on a desert plain , he laid him down to rest , taldng the earth for a bed , a stone for a pillow , and the canopy of heaven for a covering . There , in a vision , he beheld a ladder , the top of which reached the heavens , and the angels of the Lord ascending and descending upon it . And there the
Almighty was pleased to enter into a solemn covenant with Jacob , and to assure him of His protection and a safe return to his native land . The patriarch after haying seen this vision , starting from his sleep , utters the exclamation which I have chosen for my text , " Surely the Lord is in this place , and I knew it not . " Now , my brethren , may we not in this vision of the patriarch Jacob , and in the history of his journey , behold a symbol and type of the life of man ? An exile from his home , and exiled by his own
faults , a wanderer , pursued by the hatred of powerful and deadly spiritual foes , seeking a place of refuge in a peaceful land far away , in obedience to his heavenly Father ' s commands , and yet on his journey thither becoming weary , and allowing himself to be overtaken by night whilst on the wilderness of earth and earthly things , and whilst there sleeping , ignorant that God is in that place and that even where he yields to sleep , there is the very gate of heaven , if he will but see it . Yes , my Brethren , it is even thus ; and men ,
some from thoughtlessness , some from thought misplaced , and too much carefulness about the things of this life ; some , alas ! from weariness in well doing ; yea , and some from wilful and presumptuous alienation of the heart from God , sleep the $ leep of ignorance or of indolence , in the wilderness of their earthly pilgrimage , while before them and around them are the various means which God has appointed for communicating His presence to man ,
and which they do not , because they will not know . The church of Christ , prayer public and private , the study of God's Holy Word , the teaching of His ministers , the ordinances and means of grace , works of piety and selfdenial , all these things are instruments for bringing God near toms , and yet of all these , are not some absolutely rejected , and the rest tacitly disregarded by numbers of our fellow men ? When therefore we see that